Voting Station

Leonard Feather

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Critic

The Resume

    (September 13, 1914-September 22, 1994)
    Born in London, United Kingdom
    Music critic, pianist and songwriter
    Co-editor of 'Metronome' magazine
    Jazz critic for the Los Angeles Times, Esquire and Playboy
    Wrote the songs 'Evil Gal Blues,' 'Whisper Not,' 'Blues for Yesterday,' 'Twelve Tone Blues,' 'I Remember Bird' and 'How Blue Can You Get'
    Recorded the albums 'Leonard Feather's Swingin' Swedes' (1951), 'Cats Vs. Chicks' (1954), '52nd Street' (1957) and 'Weary Blues' (with Langston Hughes and Charles Mingus, 1959)
    Wrote the reference works 'The Encyclopedia of Jazz' and 'The Encyclopedic Yearbook of Jazz'
    Wrote 'Inside Jazz' (1977), 'From Satchmo to Miles' (1987) and 'The Jazz Years: Earwitness to an Era' (1987)

Why he might be annoying:

    He preferred to be called a historian rather than a critic.
    He said he wished he had focused more on his songwriting.
    After the 1965 Grammys, he wrote 'Any organization that presents 47 Grammys for 'artistic merit' without acknowledging the Beatles can't be all bad.'

Why he might not be annoying:

    He organized the first jazz concerts at Carnegie Hall and the Metropolitan Opera House.
    He produced the first studio sessions by Dinah Washington, Sarah Vaughan and George Shearing.
    He worked to desegregate the musicians unions and Hollywood studio orchestras.
    Louis Armstrong called him 'one cat who really knows what's going on.'

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 18 Votes: 55.56% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 7 Votes: 28.57% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 3 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 19 Votes: 47.37% Annoying